Here is a good example on how to navigate the news media.

Here is a good example on how to navigate the news media. For Lent I have been reading the book of Matthew with the help of N.T. Wright’s Lent for Everyone: Matthew and A.T. Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament, Vol. 1 which contains a word commentary on Matthew. Last night I read the latter’s comments on 27:51 and the earthquake that is recorded at the time of Jesus’ death. Robertson notes that “the Talmud tells of a quaking forty years before the destruction of the temple” (p. 235). Here is an interesting fact! The destruction of the temple was around 70 CE; Jesus was crucified around 30 CE. Is the Jewish Talmud independently referencing the same earthquake that Matthew records?

Now here is a fact that supports my prejudice towards the historicity of the events recorded in the Synoptic Gospels. This fact buttresses my worldview, it confirms my biases. Here is a recorded fact that helps confirm the central belief of my life: the immediate events leading up to the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. I want this to be true. And Robertson is an excellent source. A very learned scholar. Celebrated. An absolute expert in his field. Hardly ever wrong. “I’ve gotta post this on Facebook!”

So this morning I go searching for the evidence: Jerusalem Talmud, Babylonian Talmud, Midrash Rabbah, Tosefta, Josephus, and other sources. I read a large number of articles on the subject. Do you know what I found about the earthquake? Nothing. No evidence whatsoever. None.

Here is what I did find from the Jerusalem Talmud:

“Forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the western light went out, the crimson thread remained crimson, and the lot for the Lord always came up in the left hand. They would close the gates of the Temple by night and get up in the morning and find them wide open”

And from the Babylonian Talmud:

“Our rabbis taught: During the last forty years before the destruction of the Temple the lot ‘For the Lord’ did not come up in the right hand; nor did the crimson-colored strap become white; nor did the western most light shine; and the doors of the Hekel [Temple] would open by themselves”

So the Talmud does reference a number of mysterious things happening circa 30 CE but not an earthquake. What I did find were some modern people speculating about whether an earthquake could have caused the events recorded in the Talmud, but that is a very different thing than saying that the Talmud records an earthquake around 30 CE.

Robertson erred.

My point is that one must be highly suspicious of facts that seem to confirm our biases, prejudices, beliefs, desires, and worldview. The news media (either consciously or unconsciously) will always attempt to persuade you to adopt a particular narrative or version of events in order to support a particular worldview. They will use truths, half-truths, falsehoods, mischaracterizations, omissions, distortions, speculations, opinions, feelings, and polls to get you to believe whatever furthers their agenda. More importantly, they want to use your biases, prejudices, jealousies, and fears to their ends. I’ve learned that fear is the most powerful of manipulators.

This is all to say that it is important to research and study what you believe, why you believe it, and to avoid the news cycles that attempt to direct you. By doing so, you will either avoid error and/or strengthen your convictions.